The Maze Runner  

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The Maze Runner is a 2009 young adult dystopian science fiction novel written by American author James Dashner and the first book released in The Maze Runner series. The novel was published on October 6, 2009, by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House, and was made into a 2014 major motion picture by 20th Century Fox, directed by Wes Ball.

Plot

Thomas wakes up in a metal elevator that brings him to the Glade. He has no memory of who he is or how he got there, except for his name. He gradually discovers that the Glade is run by two boys: Alby, the leader, and Newt, the second-in-charge, who both maintain order by enforcing simple but effective rules. The elevator box surfaces from under the ground once every month and supplies new food, tools, medicine, and sometimes weapons. Every month, a new boy with no memory of anything but his first name finds himself in that elevator box.

The Glade is surrounded by a square of four-mile-high walls made of concrete. The walls have openings in them, which slide shut doors every night. Outside the walls is the Maze, a labyrinth of high concrete walls covered in ivy that changes every day. The Maze houses strange, lethal creatures known as Grievers. All that is known of them is that there a combination of metal and flesh. The Gladers are trying to stay alive as well as "solve" the Maze by appointing "runners" to run through it as fast as they can while they track movements of the walls and try to find an exit to escape.

Three days after Thomas' arrival, a girl, Teresa, is delivered through the elevator into the Glade. She was the first ever girl to arrive into the Glade. She had a note saying "She's the last one. Ever." The girl still in the box, awoke and only said Thomas' name before falling into a two-day long coma. Thomas comes to visit Teresa along with Newt and Minho to find she still hasn't woken up. About a hour later a smaller Glader, Chuck, said that Teresa had awoke and is in a frantic state. Newt is already at the scene along with the rest of the Gladers as they cover their heads with anything they could find to protect them from flying rocks from Teresa. Thomas and Minho run over and Thomas calls out, "Hey calm down, its me Thomas I'm coming up." Reluctantly she allowed Thomas to come up the tower where he then explains everything and then Teresa gives him and the rest of the Gladers her name.

Minho, the Keeper of the Runners, goes into the Maze with Alby to see what they think is their first dead Griever. Alby is stung by the creature, which then caused Alby to attack Minho so with no other chose Minho knocks Alby out. This event then caused Minho to carry Alby back to the glade but he was too late the doors where already closing so with no hesitation and no thought, Thomas runs into the maze to help, stranded in the maze and now hearing the sounds of grievers approaching Minho and Thomas use the ivy to pull Alby up the wall, Minho then saw a Griever approaching them so he ran leaving Thomas alone. Thomas did his best to survive and keep Alby alive, and by morning Thomas had killed most of the Grievers and found Minho.

After returning to the Glade the next morning, Newt calls a Gathering of the Keepers to discuss what to do with Thomas. Some of the Keepers vote to relieve him of punishment, but others, especially Gally, vote to lock him up in the Slammer, the jail block, the pit, as a punishment. Minho, however, nominates Thomas to become a runner although Gally didn't agree, Newt was now in charge as Alby was now in recovery, so he decided to put Thomas in the pit for one night, no food, no water and, the next day would be his first time as a proper runner. Gally didn't agree with this once again so he storms off in a fit of rage as Frypan (the cook of the Glade) goes after him.

After their miraculous return, the food was running out and the box wasn't coming up, and that same night the maze door stayed open as 3 other doors to the maze then open. All of a sudden Grievers entered the glade leaving the teens to fend for themselves, and of the Gladers died that night including Alby. Now no longer second in charge, Newt was in charge of the small minority of the teens that were left alive.

The next morning, Gally attacks Thomas and was screaming that it was all his fault. Thomas, feeling guilty, stabs himself with the poisonous part of a Griever, the stinger, which caused him to blackout, get his memories back and now he is dealing with the wort pain ever. Once Thomas wakes up he finds himself with Teresa in the slammer and is about to be banished or, in Galley's words, sacrificed to the Grievers, but Newt and Minho fight Gally and two of his friends and then let Teresa and Thomas go.

After Thomas and the Gladers discover the pattern, the Gladers decide to make a run for the exit. They succeed, only to find out that they were test subjects in an experiment conducted by the organization World In Catastrophe: Killzone Experiment Department (WICKED). The teenagers escape and find a video explaining that three years ago the world was scorched by the sun which killed millions of people and a disease that attacked the brain and killed and changed people. Then out of no where Gally appears but, having been stung, was now infected. Gally has a gun in his hand and he tries to kill Thomas but Chuck, the youngest Glader, jumps in the way of the bullet. Minho then kills Gally with a spear.

After briefly mourning Chuck's death, all six Gladers are rescued and brought to a warehouse. There, they are informed about catastrophic solar flares that caused an apocalyptic event. The rescuers reveal that the Gladers are among a group of orphaned children being tested to find a cure for the virus.

The epilogue is written in the voice of Chancellor Ava Paige, a feature of all the trilogy's novels. She reveals that the group that rescued the Gladers may just be another variable in the experiment and that the Gladers were not the only group being evaluated. This leads directly into the events of the next book.





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